While vacationing and traveling between San Francisco and Eureka the past couple of days, I’ve noticed the remnants of a railroad that parallels Highway 101 much of the way between Santa Rosa and Eureka. What can the more knowledgeable folks here tell me about this line? When did it last see trains? Which RR ran it?
From about Shively, north, you had the Northwestern Pacific.
Doesn’t look to have been gone a real long time, as pavement markings are still visible at some crossings…
I noticed that Cloverdale has a relatively modern train depot built along the line- what a waste.
Further north it gets pretty rugged, so it doesn’t surprise me that the line doesn’t get used anymore.
This is one of my favorite drives I wish the line was active!
The Northwestern Pacific is not abandoned. It was active I the 1990s and the southern portion is still running today. Eventually transit activity will take place on the southern portion along with freight. Current plans are to rehabilitate to Willits. The remainder of the line to Eureka goes through the eel river and is one of the most unstable geologic formations in the country. The money SP spent keeping it open over the years was enormous. The odds that section will ever see another train are slim. It would cost a fortune to build it in a way it would last and it would face a tough environmental battle.
The NorthWestern Pacific from Willits north to Eureka has never been formally abandoned. It is however embargoed. It has not seen a train since the 1980’s I think. IIRC the state of California owns the line at this point and has been trying to find an operator willing to do some repairs. Between restrictions on logging, mismanagement of forests by a speculator, and the loss of the rail line it has severely affected the forests industry in Humboldt county. Any substantial jobs recovery in the logging industry is entirely dependent on restoring rail service. Caltrans has spent a small fortune on building a freeway to Eureka. And Caltrans does not want US101 and several roads that cross the coast range to I-5 wrecked by a lot of heavy truck traffic. Currently what economy is there is the remnants of the logging industry and tourism. The other project for the former NWP is a rebuild of passenger rail from Cloverdale south to the ferry terminal at Larkspur. The first phase is San Rafael to Santa Rosa. NWP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_Pacific_Railroad SMART. http://www2.sonomamarintrain.org/index.php/what_is_smart/ Rgds IGN
The line through Eureka and into Arcata was in use until the El Nino rains in late 1998 caused landslides north of Willits.
As of April 2012, there wee still some GP9s (and a GP7 if I remember correctly) stranded in Eureka (I don’t know if they are still extant). Although they will probably never be used again even if the line is reopened.
The line is shut down after the shortline operator was hit with an FRA “Death Sentence” for failure to maintain, especially the signal system. How soon they forget. Line as far north as Willits will see trains again, Willits to Eureka through Eel River Canyon not so likely. (Skunk Train operator California Western was seriously harmed by the forced FRA embargo, It’s freight operation lost its only connection to the outside world.)